Center for Historical Keyboards

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What makes an instrument historical?

Fugitive Resonance: The Piano in the Early 20th Century featured an 1878 Blüthner "Aliquot grand" piano. See the festival program book here.

Clavichordist Wim Winters performed at the A.D. White House in September 2018, for The Organ in the Global Baroque conference presented in partnership with the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies.

These are just two of the many vibrant keyboard instruments that live at Cornell University and will soon join the new Center for Historical Keyboards.

2019 will see the launch of the Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards, where the University's 18th- and 19th-century instruments will be kept in concert-ready condition for historically-informed study, performance, and recording of classic and romantic repertories. The new Center is made possible by a generous grant and will house clavichords, harpsichords, and synthesizers as well as Malcolm Bilson's personal collection of historical pianos.

~ click on photos to see a gallery of the instruments ~

For questions about the Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards, please email the program coordinator, Kiko Nobusawa at TN75@cornell.edu.

We also serve as the administrative office of the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies, and the annual journal Keyboard Perspectives published by the Westfield Center.